Caroline Stark
by lookingforklaroline
Summary: A/U Her life was never easy, in fact it wasn't even close to being easy. She is Tony Stark's daughter after all. She was expected to be a genius, like her father, and while she was smart, she let down many teachers by not being smart enough. Then, she became head cheerleader and was deemed a dumb blonde. So, Caroline could never win, and Tony would never understand.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hello! This is my first story, and I'm really excited about it. This is based off a gif on tumblr where Caroline is Tony Stark's daughter. I don't know if there will be any pairings yet, but if there is it will most likely be Klaroline with a side of Kennet and Kalijah. Please leave a review! Constructive criticism and praise is welcome! **

Her life was never easy, in fact it wasn't even close to being easy. She is the famous and infamous Tony Stark's daughter after all. She was expected to be a genius, like her father, and while she was smart, she let down many teachers by not being smart enough. Then, to escape her last name, she became head cheerleader and was deemed a dumb blonde. So, Caroline could never win, and the one and only Tony Stark could never understand.

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><p>"Dad! I'm home!" Caroline shouted into her father's newest home that, thankfully, wasn't destroyed yet.<p>

After a brief pause, she heard a reply through the intercom system, "You do know we have the intercoms for a reason, sweetheart."

"I know Dad," she put on her earpiece, "but sometimes non-technological communication is key." Caroline dropped her bag on the floor, scoffing when an Iron Man suit came and picked it up.

Tony came bounding up the stairs, "I know, I know. I have to spend quality time with my daughter, not through a suit or earpiece." He hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

He clapped his hands together, "Maybe I can start with, how was cheer!? Did you get any cool moves?"

"It was fine," Caroline rolled her eyes, "you've done your fatherly duties, you can go work on your latest Stark Industries thing." She waved him away.

As soon as she told him to leave, he did, going down the stairs as fast as he could shouting behind him, "Thank you, darling!"

"I'm sorry, we're so busy, Caroline," Pepper stepped out of the elevator, putting her things away and hugging Caroline softly.

"It's fine; I'm used to it," Caroline replied hugging her step-mother. When Pepper and Tony got together, she was so excited to have a real mother for once. Since she was born off of a one-night stand, her birth-mother didn't want anything to do with her, she never really had a female role-model in her life, and she'd always gotten along with Pepper in the past.

"So, how was school today?" Pepper headed into the kitchen to get dinner ready, not letting Tony's suits do everything for her.

Caroline washed her hands beside Pepper and put on a smile, "It was nice." Suddenly, an alarm sounded throughout the building.

Caroline's smile immediately dropped, "Not again." Tony ran up the stairs again calling several commands at JARVIS.

Finally Tony turned toward them, "Stay here please and stay safe. I love you both." He quickly let the suit assemble itself and flew out of the front door.

"That was the Avengers alarm. What's happening?" Pepper asked almost absentmindedly.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Caroline ran out of the room as Pepper called for her to come back. She got into her car to follow her stupid father.

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><p>A big screen had a newscaster that was reporting exactly what happened, "The sky opened above and several, what can only be categorized as space ships came down in swarms. We don't know how this happened or what led to it, but our only hope is that the Avengers will save the day."<p>

She had to help; she couldn't just stand there as innocent people got hurt. While looking around Caroline spotted a little girl crying over by a car. Caroline quickly ran over to her squatting down so she'd be face to face.

"Breathe, Caroline. You can deal with children. You love children!" Caroline thought and smiled at the girl hoping to calm her.

"My mommy!" the girl cried.

"It's going to be okay. The superheroes are going to save us. Come with me we can find safety," Caroline gently picked the girl up.

"But my mommy. I lost my mommy."

"We'll find your mommy. She's probably with the police looking for you," Caroline tapped the girl's nose and got a small grin out of her.

After Caroline dropped the girl off with the police and made sure she was safely in her mom's arms, Caroline ran further into the battle. Soon after, she got attacked from behind by one of the aliens that oddly looked almost like monkeys. She quickly fought it off, silently thanking her father for making her do self-defense lessons with Natasha Romanov herself. Caroline cursed her luck when Captain America ran right past her.

"Caroline?" He called turning around to talk to her.

"Hey, Cap," Caroline tried with a smile.

"Does your dad know your here?" considering the world was at risk, Caroline was not surprised that the Captain went strait to the point.

"No," Caroline started off almost embarrassed, "but there was this little girl, and I was just trying to help."

"Caroline, you have to go home. Your dad would be broken if something happened to you, and he would-" another alien monkey decided to attack at that point retracting huge claws. Captain America easily fended him off with a quick bump on the head with his shield. By the time he turned around again, Caroline was gone. He silently cursed to himself at how similar that girl was to her father.

Caroline looked around. She couldn't find anything. She suddenly didn't know what she could do. Here were all these superheroes flying around, fighting, and she was a head cheerleader. What could she possibly do? Suddenly, she saw a group of kids huddled by a car, she ran over putting away her insecurities.

"You have to get out of here!" She yelled so they could hear her.

"We can't, our friend is stuck," a brave little girl walked up to her with tears in her eyes.

Caroline quickly crouched by the car hating that she didn't have super strength. The little boy was stuck under the car. She didn't know how, but hopefully he wasn't crushed underneath.

"Hello, I'm Caroline, and I'm going to get you out of there alright?"

"Hi, Caroline. I'm Keith, and I think I'm stuck," Keith grinned at his joke that he thought was very funny.

Caroline humored him with a smile, "Alright, Keith, I'm going to need you to tell me how you're stuck."

"It's my foot," Keith moved slightly and grimaced in pain.

"Alright I'm going to the other side of the car now, don't move," Caroline turned toward the little girl that talked to her earlier. "Talk to him, keep him calm." Caroline waited for the girl to nod before running over to the other end of the car. The boys ankle was twisted in a way that was definitely not natural. Caroline was positive it was broken, but she was glad to see there was no other damage. She quickly saw that a pipe of the car was trapping the boy to the asphalt, so she rolled underneath and pressed up on the pipe with all her strength. Thankfully it was enough and the pipe lifted off the boy slightly.

Caroline grunted with the effort, "Keith, I'm going to need you to slide out now and do it quickly." As soon as Keith was in safety, Caroline let go of the pipe with a huff and rolled back out of underneath the car. She smiled brightly at seeing them all huddled together, safe.

She bent down to Keith, "Your foot is broken. You won't be able to walk on it, so you're going to need help to get to a safe area."

They walked barely a block before Caroline saw her father. She opened her eyes, wide, silently pleading for understanding. Suddenly one of the kids yelled out, and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who's read this story! I was going to publish this chapter sooner, but I wasn't happy with it so I basically re-did the entire thing. Sorry for the delay! I will be going on vacation for a while. I'll try to update, but it's highly unlikely I'll get to it.**

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><p>Caroline groaned awake. She probably looked like hell right now, she certainly felt like it.<p>

"She's awake," a kind woman said next to her. Tony stood up beside her, and the events of the fight suddenly all came back.

Caroline tried a meek smile, "Sorry?"

"Sorry!? I'm furious with you young lady! I asked you to stay with Pepper! If she didn't call me, I can't even imagine what could've happened to you! You could've gotten killed or worse!" Tony yelled pacing back and forth.

"I just-" Caroline started. Suddenly, she was enveloped in a hug, that _hurt._ "Ow."

"I'm sorry," Tony backed off. "I'm just so happy you're alive. You were almost dead, and I don't know what I would do without you."

"Dad, I just wanted to help. There were kids that needed me. I couldn't just leave them there. Speaking of, is the boy okay? Is the little girl okay? Are they all alive?"

Tony looked at her with a sense of... pride? "They are all okay. Fortunately and unfortunately, you got all of the injuries."

Caroline sighed in relief, "Thank goodness."

Tony suddenly looked sheepish, "I may have to apologize to that boy's father, now that you're awake. I wasn't exactly in the best shape for proper judgment." Now there was the Tony she knew.

"Dad!" Caroline laughed wincing at the pain that accompanied it.

"Okay no laughter for you," Tony lectured her while chuckling himself. Caroline tried to get out of the bed, standing up briefly before collapsing in her father's arms.

"And no getting out of bed. You're bedridden until the doctor says otherwise," Tony's smile disappeared, and he sounded extremely serious.

"Who's the doctor?" Caroline huffed sitting down on her bed with some pain and effort.

"Me," the one and only Bruce Banner walked into the room. Caroline did have Iron Man as her father, but Bruce was different. He was more than just smart; he turned into a giant green thing. Although her teachers and peers didn't think she was smart, she practically worshiped this man's work.

Caroline gasped incredulously at Bruce, "I have the Hulk as my doctor!?"

"I prefer Doctor Bruce Banner, or you can call me Bruce," he sighed, waiting for her to make the same joke her father made when he first met Bruce.

"Sorry, I can't believe it. I'm just really excited. Your work has always interested me, ever since I was ten," Caroline smiled fidgeting nervously.

"Yah, I could never get her that excited in my work," Tony sadly stated.

Caroline glared at her father, "I don't like weapons."

"Well, sorry to disappoint, but I'm basically a walking weapon," Bruce sadly pointed out.

Caroline's eyes lit up again, "Oh, but you're not! Sure you have the Hulk, but you are a genius. You're a scientist, a biochemist, and an absolute genius in nuclear physics. You didn't use your brain to create things to destroy; you used it to help people!" Bruce was truly speechless. This 17 year old girl was not only saying how brilliant he was, but how kind he was too.

"Thank you," Bruce responded actually touched by the girl's words.

"That's fine pretend I'm not here," Tony was a little sad, because he used his brain for weapons, and his own daughter was obviously not happy with that.

"Dad, you know I love you, but it's Bruce Banner!" Caroline tried to cheer her dad up. Slowly the talking stopped as Bruce checked her vitals and said she could walk, but with the help of crutches.

"Not the best thing ever," Caroline was dismayed to find out that she had to have crutches for at least a week. Bruce's worth slowly dropped in her eyes when he absolutely wouldn't take her "I'm fine"s for a serious medical opinion. But today she was home, so she would not let the stupid sticks in her hands get the best of her.

"I still don't see why I can't design something better," Tony wanted to build basically half an Iron Man suit for her to walk in.

"It's only a week; I can handle it."

"I know, Sweetheart," Tony kissed her on the cheek.

"Don't forget, you two have an appearance today at noon," Pepper called walking out of the house to go to Stark Industries office.

"Appearances," Tony and Caroline both groaned. They both loved the attention, but people asked so many questions that weren't fun to answer.

"We should get ready," Caroline sighed as Tony helped her up the stairs.

"What was with the aliens yesterday? Are they gone for good?" A reporter yelled at Tony quickly and loudly over everyone else.

"We don't know for sure, yet, but we are convinced that even if there's more out there, they would be stupid to come back," Tony replied.

"And your daughter, Tony! What happened to her?" Another reporter yelled. Caroline looked up at her dad, not actually sure of what happened herself.

"She was saving children," there were several pleased yelps from the crowd, "and one of the aliens attacked her legs. She collapsed and hit her head. Caroline should be fine, though."

"Caroline, what drove you to save those kids?"

"Um," she looked at her father and he urged her on, "well, I just wanted to help."

"I think that's enough questions," Tony said into the microphones and walked into the SHIELD building behind them.

"I never got to thank you for saving me, Dad," Caroline turned toward Tony once they were in a more private area.

"It's my job to protect you, as your dad and as Iron Man," he pulled Caroline in for a tight hug. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Dad."

Caroline laughed, "So you're trying to recruit me?"

"Well, I hate to admit you are like your father, in several aspects, but in many others you could be a very good SHIELD agent."

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><p><strong>AN:** **I hope you all enjoy this story! Special thanks to my friend animalcharmer1235! She read through this story before and convinced me that I should publish it! If you guys want to follow me on tumblr mine is stilllookingforklaroline and hers is theinventionofsuperwholock. Please leave a review about any errors! I'd really appreciate it! **

**Quick apology for the shortish chapter and the lateness updates are going to take for a while. I'm sorry, please hang in there.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm sooooo sorry! I love each and every one of you. I've been on vacation with little or no internet, so I apologize for the huge delay! If you want you can follow me on tumblr stilllookingforklaroline!**

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><p>Caroline tossed and turned in her bed thinking about what Agent, sorry, Director Coulson told her. She still couldn't believe he was the Director of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. much less alive. Coulson said that as of now only a few people knew he was alive, but he wanted to change that. Caroline shook her head so she could stop wondering about how Coulson was alive and focus on her own future.<p>

"S.H.I.E.L.D.," Caroline whispered to herself. The option had crossed her mind once or twice. She never quite took it seriously, because she didn't think she could make it in. Now, the option seemed possible. Caroline picked up the phone needing someone to talk to.

"Care seriously it's 2 am. You know I need my beauty sleep," Katherine whined as soon as she picked up the phone.

"Katherine, you know I know you are out partying, and you're just mad you had to leave some eye candy," Caroline replied knowing Katherine always went out Saturday nights to go make-out with her newest boy toy.

Katherine laughed, "You know me so well, so what's up?"

"If I tell you, you can't tell anyone else."

"Ooh, secretive. If you've murdered someone, I'm so there for you girl. Otherwise, I advise not joining the Illuminati; they are only cool for the first month or so then it's just creepy and dangerous."

Caroline took Katherine's enthusiastic answer as a yes; she knew Katherine wouldn't tell anyone anyway, "I was asked to join S.H.I.E.L.D."

Katherine gasped quietly, "Really?"

"Yeah, so like the Illuminati, but more govermenty," Caroline joked lightly.

"No, Care, that's great. I mean you've always wanted to help people, so I think that's amazing."

"Anyway, I can't sleep. Can I come to whatever party you're at?"

Katherine game a little smirk always trying to get her friend to let loose, "Of course."

**Caroline snuck out of her house, which was not easy by any standards especially with all of the security measures Tony has set up over the years. She could not fathom how she was getting back in especially with how much alcohol she's already consumed. Katherine was dancing next to Caroline looking around for hot enough boys for both of them. She swore it was hard enough to find one just for her, but at least the drunker she got the hotter the boys were. Katherine was a about to give up, call it a day, and figure out how to get herself and Caroline home when she spotted her friend kissing someone in a dark corner. **

Katherine shook her head that she was the responsible one, "Caroline!" Caroline looked up momentarily to shoot Katherine a death glare.

"Uh oh," Katherine muttered to herself finding her phone and seeing that it was almost 5 am. On a normal day Katherine wouldn't have cared, but Caroline's household started early. Pepper would most definitely be up, and Tony too by the time Katherine managed to get Caroline home. Caroline's parents already thought Katherine was a bad influence and this would make everything worse. Katherine silently muttered her own prayers and said goodbye to her best friend for several years at the least. She ran over to Caroline and pulled her away from the actually very hot guy she was making-out with.

"Katherine," Caroline whined drunkenly.

"I'm sorry, my friend is extremely drunk right now, and while I would love to let her stay. I do like being alive, and if I can bring her home quick enough that just might be possible," Katherine ignored Caroline's whines and helped the girl to her feet.

"I understand, but can I at least get a name?"

"I'm so sorry, Pepper," Katherine came in with a very drunk Caroline at 6 am and thankfully just Pepper was up. Once they both got Caroline into bed, Katherine explained and apologized to Pepper about 50 times. Although, she conveniently left out the guy Caroline kissed.

"I understand Katherine."

"You do?"

"Yes, I was 18 once too. I get it. Anyway, it's not my place to punish you."

"Pepper, you can't punish Caroline. It's not her fault; it's mine. So ban me from seeing her, she probably needs that, but don't punish her," Katherine practically begged, and Katherine _didn't_ beg.

"Okay, I won't, but I can't promise Tony won't. You understand I have to tell him right?"

"I understand. Thank you, Pepper!" Katherine hugged her and went home hoping to get some much needed sleep.

As soon as Caroline woke up she realized her pounding headache and loss of any memory of what she did last night was because she was hungover. She groaned and rolled over on her bed trying to get away from the blinding light of the sun that was peeking through her curtains.

"Oh look who's up," Tony greeted her none too kindly.

"Dad," Caroline groaned stuffing her face further into her pillow.

"You went partying last night?" On a normal day the calmness in Tony's voice would've scared Caroline, but she couldn't really notice because her head was pounding.

"I think so."

"You think so!?" Caroline winced at Tony's raised voice.

"I don't remember."

"Great," Tony threw his hands up, "This isn't like you Caroline. Sneaking out, getting drunk, partying. I honestly don't know what came over you."

Caroline rolled over and looked up at her dad, "S.H.I.E.L.D. offered me a place at their academy."

"Do you not want to go?"

"I don't know. It was just a lot to think about, so I made a rash decision."

"Well, Sweetheart, please just talk to me, instead of going out and partying."

"Dad, I think I'm being punished enough just with how awful I feel right now."

"I have this serum I perfected in college for hangovers. Let me go make a batch. Don't tell Pepper, though." Caroline laughed and then winced urging her dad to hurry up.

After taking Tony's hangover serum, which proved to be magical, Caroline rolled out of bed and decided to give Director Coulson a call.

"Caroline?" Coulson picked up.

"I'm in. When do I start?" Caroline responded with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Please don't kill me for the long wait... Love you and feedback is always appreciated. Check out my tumblr at stilllookingforklaroline!**

Ever since Tony didn't tell Caroline about his alter ego, Iron Man, their relationship was based on them telling each other everything. So, Caroline found it extremely difficult to keep the fact she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. from Tony. Director Coulson specified that her joining was in fact secretive, no matter who her father was. Caroline hated lying to Tony, and she was sure that he knew because her excuses for being out of the house were getting worse and worse. First she started off small with parties and sleepovers with Katherine. One time she blurted she was going to visit Bruce, which she was sure Tony would catch her on, but she felt worse though when Tony greeted her excitedly, as soon as she came back, and asked her to help him with another project he was starting. It was tearing her up inside, and if Tony didn't notice, Pepper definitely did.

"What is going on Caroline? You are hiding something from Tony. I know he might be oblivious, but I can see your guilt every time I see your eyes," Pepper confronted her one day.

"I wish I could tell you," Caroline confessed looking down. "I promise I'm not in any trouble or anything." Pepper grudgingly went along with it but kept an eye on Caroline that would make even Hawk Eye proud.

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><p>A couple days later Caroline came into the house to the scene of Coulson talking to Pepper and Tony, fighting the strange urge to run and hide.<p>

"Caroline!" Coulson greeted very enthusiastically. Upon seeing Caroline, Tony looked surprised, and Caroline couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.

"The Avengers initiative has been reinstated. Apparently, those aliens were just the scouts. There are more, so I'm going to be seriously fighting again," Tony told his daughter. Caroline looked at Coulson with a confused look on her face, she hadn't heard anything about the Avengers while being trained by Natasha or from any of the other agents she'd been working with.

"What? When did this happen?"

"Just now, but I promise it's only temporary. I'll try and spend as little time as possible at SHIELD." A bunch of different scenarios ran through Caroline's head. Her main question was if she should tell him or not. He was guaranteed to find out sooner or later, so Caroline took a deep breath and looked to Coulson for reassurance. When Coulson nodded, Caroline sat Tony and Pepper down to tell them everything.

"So that's it, I guess. I'm apart of SHIELD now." Caroline looked back and forth between Tony and Pepper wanting one of them to show some kind of emotion so she could prepare herself for whatever was coming.

Tony spoke first, although his voice came out small, "So you lied to us this entire time."

"I'm so sorry Dad. I couldn't say anything. It's basically a part of the job description," Caroline felt so guilty looking at Tony's upset expression.

Pepper became angry instead of sad, probably more for Tony's sake than her own, "You are grounded, Caroline. You may go to SHIELD because that is your job, but you are not allowed to go to any parties or hang out with Katherine for a while. Lying to me or to your dad breaks our trust in you."

Caroline looked at the ground, "I understand."

Coulson finally spoke up, "I hope we can still have her out on missions."

Pepper sighed, "Sure, why not?"

Tony looked up composed, "Agent can I talk to you for a second?"

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><p>Once they had walked out of earshot Tony turned on Coulson, "What were you thinking recruiting my baby?"<p>

"Tony, she's a wonderful agent so far. She's got lots of talent, and she wants to be there. I know where this conversation is heading, and I can't force her to leave," Coulson replied calmly.

Tony pushed Coulson against the wall breathing heavily from anger, "I want you to make her leave then. Make her want to leave. If anything happens to her, I swear..."

"Tony, let go. She will be fine. Don't you want her to learn how to defend herself in this cruel world? Don't you think with aliens out there, that she should know about it all and know how to face it?"

Tony let go and ran a hand over his face, "I don't know. All I know if she gets injured or god forbid die. I don't know how I could go on. She chose this life-style because of me. It's my fault. I never want her to be like me. I want the easiest path for her."

"While you can want the best for your kid, you can't make these choices for her. Sometimes the harder path is the better one. She's going to grow so much and more importantly enjoy her job."

"I just want her to be safe," Tony sighed and walked away to sit next to Pepper again.

"Me too," Coulson whispered to himself making a personal vow to try and protect Caroline Stark no matter what.


End file.
